The village of Cotten Abbas was prosperous, but not from rural activities - it was inhabited by a small well-to-do middle class population and the tradesmen who served them. But it had an unpleasant problem - many of the people had been receiving anonymous letters, which either revealed that the sender knew their secrets or were merely filled with obscene abuse. Professor Gervase Fen visited the village in the guise of Mr Datchery to investigate the mystery, and quickly made the acquaintance of a foreign school master and his admiring girlfriend. Events developed quickly, and what with suicide and murder the doctors, the police and the scandalmongers are all kept busy.
This doesn't have the humour of the other Crispins I've read but then again Fen hardly plays a part in the story with the majority of the novel concentrating on members of the village. Fen basically turns up at the end and reveals "all".
Despite not being as good as other Fen stories this is worth reading, the reasoning behind the events is very very nasty and shows again what a lovely bunch us humans are.
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